Governor Francis Farms: Ode to the past with a modern charm

Sunday

Jan 19, 2014 at 12:01 AM

Although it started out small, in the years after the Great Depression, “The Farms” eventually grew to include about 800 houses, and it was Rhode Island’s largest suburban single-family housing development.

Christine Dunn Journal Staff Writer ChristineMDunn

WARWICK — Namquid Drive is at the center of Governor Francis Farms, the leafy neighborhood established in 1938 on the former Spring Green Farm, purchased in 1782 by merchant and Brown University founder John Brown.

The farm was later owned by Brown’s grandson John Brown Francis, who served as governor of Rhode Island from 1833 to 1838. Francis, who also served as a U.S. senator, state senator and chancellor of Brown University, also established a school in the community at his own expense.

Namquid Drive starts at its western edge at Route 117 and continues east through Governor Francis Farms, past a roundabout and on to the Gaspee Point neighborhood to its end at the Gaspee Point beach.

Although it started out small, in the years after the Great Depression, “The Farms” eventually grew to include about 800 houses, and it was Rhode Island’s largest suburban single-family housing development.

Landscape architects E.M. Prellwitz and J.D. Graham, who had trained with Frederick Law Olmstead Jr., son of the famed designer of Central Park in New York, were part of the development team. Care was taken to preserve as many trees as possible.

Today, Governor Francis Farms remains a pleasant neighborhood with mature, established trees and well-kept houses ranging in size from storybook Capes and ranch-style houses to large Colonial-style residences. Gaspee Point, where there are cottages on smaller leased lots close to the water, is still owned by a descendant of John Brown Francis, Henry A.L. Brown, who is Warwick’s city historian.

There is a Governor Francis Neighborhood Association, which has its own Facebook page, and a neighborhood garden club. The neighborhood association holds an annual yard sale, and last October’s pumpkin patch and fall festival event included hay rides and the annual pie contest.

Linda Maintanis, a resident of Saint George Court, writes a neighborhood blog, Governorfrancis.blogspot.com. “I’m just trying to spark a little fire and get neighbors to communicate,” she said.

Some of the streets in The Farms were named after flowers or trees, including Aster, Balsam, and Dahlia streets and Honeysuckle Road, while others were given Indian names, such as Pocahontas and Algonquin drives. Spring Green Road is a remembrance of the long-ago farm.

There were eight houses listed for sale in Governor Francis Farms last week, with prices ranging from $179,000, for a two-bedroom house at 116 Dahlia St., a short sale, up to $324,900 for a Colonial with a new kitchen at 48 Namquid Drive. There was also a for-sale-by-owner property, a Cape at 134 Lansdowne Rd., with an asking price of $319,000.